Tis the Season to be Jolly and/or Silly!
By the time you read this, it will be 2020, so HAPPY NEW YEAR
For some there will be a mountain of guilt about overindulgence. But let’s look at this logically and sensibly;
Overindulgence, possibly, but it’s OK! A human treat during down time. That term can also be taken more than one way. Xmas can be a ‘down’ time for some. The pressure of family and friends, lost ones and the feeling of being ‘overtaken’ when you finally stop hard work.
We work hard, maybe play hard, but it’s when we stop, we usually really feel it. The body and mind say…phew and then some of us can come to an abrupt halt. An analogy might be, you’re in the passenger seat of a Race Car. The Driver slams on the brakes, up until this moment, you’ve only been Navigating or watching the corner approach fast. Now, you’re slowing down quickly. The scenery around you becoming more apparent. There’s no guarantee what that scenery is, but it’s real and ‘Now’. If that scenery is new or has been ignored/overlooked, then it may come as a reality shock and/or a reality check. A flood of emotions in quick succession.
If that’s not you, all well and good, but spare a thought for those around you, it might be the time they really need you most. If it’s you, your friends should also be looking out for you. Beyond Blue and other organisations are there to help.
I did a whole lot of research regarding Xmas and Depression etc. Whilst the answers varied greatly, there was a huge emphasis on Holiday statistics.
Depression or stress, tends to be brought to the fore because of expectations and demands, the obvious being financial or family issues, plus travel etc.
I’m not clinically qualified to speak too much more on this topic, so I’ll bring it back to the Health and Fitness Scenario. However, you can hopefully see the relativity.
So, did you overindulge, or did you just simply have some down time, a change of diet and some well-earned breaks? If so that OK! To now go and train too hard or ‘bash yourself up’ will undo any good that down-time brings. We need recovery time.
Go and do something related to your surroundings. If you’re able-bodied, simple walks with loved ones and family in new or pleasant surroundings will be still exercise.
My learnings say you can lose ALL your cardiovascular ‘Fitness’ in approximately 6 weeks with NO activity. HOWEVER, most of us never do absolutely nothing. Those that have trained previously will be better with some rest and may well exceed the previous level within a few weeks of training recommencement.
If you Weight Train and are drug free..,.. yes it’s common, just look at some of the guys in the gym….. see if their ‘collars a cuffs match? (I mean neck and calf size compared to quad and Bicep size), You will start to lose Weight Training gains in about 1-4 days. Of course, once again, down time and recovery often result in better gains next time.
Remember this; ALL Athletic programming has downtime/rest. Recovery is essential for muscle growth and improvement. The heart is also a muscle. Downtime in an Athletic Programme is factored in a calculated manner. In the old Periodisation models, there would be a ‘down’ week every 4th or 5th week. Think, 4 steps ‘up’ and one drop step down to about ‘level 2’ (which then became level one of the next block of training.
The High-end Athlete training and results are where we look to for state-of-the-art information. We must then treat each and everyone with the same protocols in mind. We then of course dilute those protocols to suit each occasion.
Athlete training management revolves around the different phases of a competitive season. There was a classic case of the Australian Swimmers breaking World records, 6 months out of the Olympics. They went in as favourites, but most didn’t perform to expectation. They had peaked too early, so the programme timing was obviously incorrect.
If you couple this with the fact that ALL teams are in fact a group of individuals, this also might tell us why Team Training might not be what it first appears.
Remember the Instagram Trainer might train a World Class Surfer, with the thought of training him for surfing. An expert trainer would train a World Class Surfer, with the methodology of training him to win!
Try some other ways to move and train the body, just because you don’t have a pile of metal handy or your favourite classis not at hand, doesn’t mean you cannot use and train muscles, and/or, your heart and lungs.
Take one step at a time when negotiating a flight of steps, or two/even three, then each step becomes an ‘upward lunge’.
A simple walk each day, heading in a different direction adding variety can be extremely beneficial. I recently set a programme and it said;
Walk out the door on Monday and turn right, Tuesday turn Left, Wednesday go straight. Monday might be flat, Tuesday Hilly and Wednesday Undulating and have long steps. Variety is the key, you can vary the intensity, the duration, play with the frequency etc. Then it all becomes variety with quality.
Do those stretches you seem to avoid.. I have given some examples.
Most of all to recap ENJOY the downtime and know that it could result in better gains or greater performance in the near future. Be kind to yourself… you deserve it!
All the best for 2020 Clive
Cliverodell.com
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